


Nineteen Years Later

by CarysPendragon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Family, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-08
Updated: 2013-01-08
Packaged: 2017-11-24 04:32:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/630462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarysPendragon/pseuds/CarysPendragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lot of things can change in nineteen years. Love blossoms and breaks apart, friends are made and left behind, children brighten the world and drive people insane. But most of all, rivals can become so much more</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nineteen Years Later

**Author's Note:**

> The first half is JK Rowling's original epilogue, with a few minor changes from myself, and the rest is my own work. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Originally posted on fanfiction.net under the same name in both title and pen name.

Nineteen years since that fateful battle. Marriages, children, and love. Especially love. They'd all finally been able to discover what they truly wanted. The train rounded a corner. Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.

"They'll be alright," murmured Ginny.

As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead. No pain pierced him as it had so long ago.

"I know they will." He said, still watching the corner the train had disappeared behind. Finally, he broke contact with the empty space and turned to the girl he had known since he was eleven years old, now a beautiful woman.

“I better get home now. Thank you so much, Gin. You know I appreciate you for giving me this.” Harry whispered to her. Ginny nodded, a small smile on her lips.

“I know.” She said. They gave each other a small kiss on the cheek before Ginny headed back out through the barrier to her car, while Harry walked over to Hermione and Ron, where Lily was still talking to Hugo. He couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw a tear leak out of Ron’s eye.

“It’s alright, mate. She’ll be back by Christmas, and you know the boys will protect her.” He reassured Ron, patting his back comfortingly. Ron wiped the single tear away and laughed at himself.

“Yeah, I know, Harry. Was it this hard with James?”

“It’s always hard, but they always come back.” Ron smiled his thanks as Hermione wiped her own tears away and gave him a quick hug before gaining the remaining children’s attention.

“Hugo, it’s time we left. Bye, Lily. We’ll see you and your parents when you come around for tea on Saturday, okay? Bye, Harry.” She gave Lily a hug as well before capturing Hugo’s hand in her own.

“See you, Harry! Tell the family we said hi!” Ron called back as he left the platform with his wife and son. Harry smiled as they disappeared into the Muggle world. He shook his head in amusement as he walked a bit further down the platform, Lily’s hand in his. If someone had told him in first year that Ron and Hermione would have a family together, he would have laughed in their faces. Now, he believed it. They were perfect together.

“Hello, Harry!” The petite blonde woman said as he neared the pair he’d seen earlier. Her partner grinned as he drew closer.

“Hey, Tori.” Harry smiled. “Ginny’s already left; I hope you remembered your key this time.” He laughed. She was always forgetting the key to the flat she shared with their redheaded friend.

“Of course I remembered it!” She said, sounding insulted. Lily giggled.

“Are you sure, Auntie?” The little girl drawled slyly. Tori nodded and pulled out the silver key.

“See?”

“Ginny put it in there, didn’t she?” Tori’s partner asked smugly. Tori sighed in annoyance, though a hint of a smile gave her acting away.

“Fine! Yes, my roommate put my key in my bag. Happy now?” She said, crossing her arms. They all nodded, grinning triumphantly. “I’ll be going now, then. See you all at Ron and Hermione’s on Saturday.” Tori smiled warmly at them all before Disapparating.

“Betcha she lied and Apparated straight into her and Auntie Ginny’s flat.” Lily said, looking up at the two men beside her. Both of them laughed.

“Half right, Lily Flower.” The taller of the two said. “That key looked a little too much like our spare key. I think Ginny slipped her the wrong key on purpose.” Lily laughed, her red hair bouncing as she nodded her agreement.

“I can see Ginny doing that.” Harry chuckled. Looping his arm around the other man’s waist.

“And I can see Astoria falling for it, hence the reason I suggested it.” Draco Potter-Malfoy said, wrapping his arm around Harry’s midsection. “Shall we go home now?”

“Yes, Father.” Lily chirped as she held her other hand out for Draco to take. He clasped it gently and brought the nine year old closer before Apparating them back to their country home.

~*~

That night found Harry running a towel through his hair, fresh out of the shower, as he wandered back into the living room. The scene that met his eyes made him pause in the doorway and watch with a smile.

Lily was lying across the couch, wearing her favourite blue flannel pyjamas. She held her worn brown teddy bear in her arms, even though James teased her for still having it. She had the softest smile on her face, her eyes closed as she listened to her father. Draco sat at the other end, Lily’s head resting on his lap, stroking her hair lightly. If Harry listened carefully, he could just hear his husband’s words.

“It was just magical. My mother was the one who gave your dad away, you know. She insisted that he couldn’t walk down the aisle by himself. That day was probably the proudest I’ve ever seen her, there in her finest white robes. She pressed Dad’s hand into mine, gave both of us a small peck on the cheek, and then whispered something to him I will never forget.” Draco chuckled lightly. “Has she ever told you what she said?”

Lily grinned, but kept her eyes shut. “She said that if Daddy ever hurt you she would come down on him so hard she would make You-Know-Who look like a saint.” She giggled. Draco nodded, placing a kiss in his daughter’s hair.

“And then she promptly told me, if I ever hurt dear Harry, that I was not too old to be placed over her knee.”

Harry laughed softly before he kept quiet and listened to Draco retell the story of their wedding, his presence unknown to two of the most important people in his life. Talking a walk down memory lane himself, he remembered that walk down the aisle. He had been so happy when Draco’s mother offered to give him away. She’d never replace his own parents, but Cissa was like a second mother to Harry. 

It wasn’t long before Lily had fallen asleep in her father’s lap, who merely ceased talking and kept stroking her hair. Harry watched as Draco slid a finger down her smooth cheek, as if awed by her presence. Harry chose that moment to make himself known.

“It really is amazing, isn’t it?”

Draco jumped slightly at the voice, turning to lock eyes with his husband. When he saw Harry leaning against the doorway, dressed in his green pyjama pants and white cotton t-shirt, he sighed happily.

“Yeah. It definitely is.” He said, returning his hand to Lily’s red hair. Harry made his way forward, kissing Draco soundly on his soft pink lips, before tucking a piece of blonde hair behind his ear. 

“Sometimes I still can’t believe they’re really here.” Draco whispered. “That we can call the four of them our children.”

Harry nodded, unable to say anything more. He knew the feeling more than any other. Carefully, he moved to pick up their daughter. “Want me to take her to bed? You look tired.” He said gently. Draco sighed again, handing Lily over to her dad. 

Harry held her easily, her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her legs around his waist. The small nine year old burrowed into his shirt unconsciously, tightening her grip on him in her sleep. Draco couldn’t help but snort as he laid a last kiss to her head. Harry raised an eyebrow questionably.

“Even asleep she’s afraid you’ll drop her.” Harry rolled his eyes but kept Lily close to him.

“That was one time! I don’t think it even counts as dropping, she was less than a foot off the ground.”

“And sprained her ankle because she landed wrong.” Draco said dryly, though humour showed in his eyes. “You tuck her in and I’ll get us a drink. Don’t hurt my daughter.”  
Harry huffed as Draco walked out of the room, swaying his hips. 

“Our daughter!” He hissed at his retreating back. Draco laughed and kept going.

Harry carried Lily upstairs to, what they called, Havoc Hall. The second level was only for the children, and Draco had thought Havoc Hall was an entirely appropriate name. There were four bedrooms, one for each of the kids, as well as another room to play in as they pleased. Walking into Lily’s room, Harry spared a quick smile to the painting on her far wall.

Each of their rooms had a person they admired and wished to confide in. It made everyone laugh when each of Harry’s biological children chose their namesakes. James Potter hung in James’s room, teaching him pranks but also telling him the importance of family. Albus Dumbledore hung in Albus’s room, entertaining him with stories of his past students and adventures and helping him with anything he saw fit. And Lily Potter hung in Lily’s room, offering words only a woman can tell a girl and telling her to stay strong when her brothers went that little bit too far. Scorpius, the only biological child of Draco’s, had thought long and hard about who he would like in his room. His eventual decision actually brought tears to Harry’s eyes. On the blonde child’s wall hung a portrait of Remus Lupin. He had heard all about the man from his dad and wanted nothing more than to speak to him. The two spent hours talking about anything and everything.

Unlike their children, Harry and Draco didn’t have their mentor’s in their bedroom. To be honest, they didn’t think the two would get along any better in paintings then they did in real life and wanted to avoid the fights they knew would rage. Therefore, Severus Snape hung in Draco’s private study and Sirius Black hung in Harry’s. 

Harry balanced Lily with one arm as he used the other to pull her sheets back, before settling her on her bed. He watched her snuggle in, dead to the world, and tucked her in tightly. Placing one last kiss on her head, he moved over to the portrait of his mother.

“Hi, Mum.” He whispered. Lily Potter gazed serenely at her son and granddaughter, her famous love portraying in her emerald eyes.

“Hello, Harry. How are you three taking it?” She asked softly. Harry shrugged, but his mother caught the sad look in his eyes.

“Lily’s okay, though she already misses them. It’s us I’m worried about. Neither of us have left Lily’s side for long since we got back, if we keep this up she might push us away.” 

The elder Lily shook her head, cutting off whatever else her son would say.

“She won’t, darling. I told her you may be like this and she understands. She was actually a bit pleased that she would get your undivided attention while the boys are away.” She reassured. Harry visibly relaxed, nodding gratefully. 

“Thanks, Mum.” He placed his fingers to his lips before transferring the kiss to his mother’s painted cheek. “Night.”

“Goodnight, angel.” Lily said warmly, blowing him a kiss. Harry pretended to catch it and held his hand to his heart. The two shared a last smile before Harry eased the door shut.  
As he walked back along the corridor to the stairs, he couldn’t help but peek into his sons’ rooms.

James’s was a mess, as it always was. Clothes littered the floor where his eldest had discarded them, various other things joining them on the carpet. Harry’s father slept in his frame, his glasses slipping down his nose. He was tempted to wake him, ask him for his advice, but fought it down and left the man to sleep.

Albus’s room was probably the cleanest. His bed was made in the corner, his toys put away and his books neat. Harry couldn’t help moving towards his son’s bed, gazing at the picture he kept on the table beside it. It was a picture they had taken when their family had visited Paris. The kids had begged to go to Disneyland, to their parents’ childish joy, and they had spent an entire day there. It had been taken by a friendly tourist, with all of them in front of the Space Mountain ride. Al and Lily wore mouse ears, James and Scor chose to wear Mickey’s wizard hat and Harry and Draco hugged their children from behind. Harry set the picture back with a smile and was broken out of his thoughts by a throat clearing behind him.

“They’ll be back soon enough, my boy. Now go and get some sleep.” Dumbledore said kindly. Harry nodded, trading goodnights with the painting, before moving to the last room.

Scorpius had, naturally, left his room exactly how he wanted to resume it. His cauldron was placed on its stand, his father’s old potions book beside it and ingredients laid out and under a stasis charm. Scor had taken after Draco in that aspect. Harry laughed when he saw one of his own books lying open on the bookshelf. It wasn’t a textbook, but one of his old notebooks from his Hogwarts days. Specifically, his DADA book from fifth year. Beside his own scrawl he saw his son’s neat script writing messages like ‘old cow’ right beside Harry’s own descriptions of Umbridge. He didn’t know if he should berate or congratulate Scor.

“I warned him that either you or Draco would find it.” Remus laughed behind him. Harry shook his head as he realized just how active the portraits were tonight.

“Dray would probably laugh his arse off if he saw.” Harry chuckled.

“You did too, just a moment ago.” Remus reminded him. “He didn’t come up with those all by himself, anyway. James and Sirius had a little bit too much fun providing him with a colourful vocabulary. Severus helped too.”

Harry looked a bit shocked. “Severus was getting along with Dad and Sirius? I know you two formed a truce and such, but he actually talked to them?”

“Oh, yes. It was quite entertaining when they realized they were getting on.”

Harry couldn’t help but talk to his old professor and friend for a few minutes more before leaving Havoc Hall and finally entering the living room again.

Draco had taken their daughter’s place lying on the couch. He was had also gotten changed from earlier, now adorning a red jumper and grey sweat pants. Harry walked over to him, taking the mug out of his husband’s hands and placing it beside the other on the coffee table.

“Scoot up.” He said gently. Draco complied, moving further up the lounge so Harry could sit between his legs. Harry laid back against his husband, Draco’s arms encircling him as he did.

“You took a while.” Draco said, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. “What kept you?”

Harry hummed in contentment, shifting closer into the embrace. “Remus and Mum were awake. Dumbledore too.” He said happily. Draco placed his head on Harry’s, nodding slightly to show he understood.

Neither were sure how long they laid there for, just enjoying each other’s company, occasionally reliving memories. Now, what felt like hours later, Draco was sure Harry had fallen asleep. The dark haired man had turned in his arms, burrowing his head into his shoulder, his left hand entwined with Draco’s right. An old habit of his, Draco fingered the wedding band he himself had placed on Harry’s finger. Twisting it easily around his husbands finger, the words engraved inside it floated through Draco’s head.

Sic Itur Ad Astra.

Such is the way to the stars.

And he’d definitely seen stars when Harry showed him just how much he loved it. That certainly was a night to remember...

A series of loud taps brought Draco back to the present. Trying not to jostle Harry too much, he reached for his wand on the coffee table, flicking it in the windows direction. Sure enough, Scorpius’ owl flew in and landed beside him.

Another quick flick and the window was closed. Draco stroked the small tawny’s head, untied the letter attached to it, and sent it on its way to the make-shift Owlery in the attic.  
He recognized Albus’ scrawl on the envelope, and loathe as he was to wake him, Draco was sure Harry would want to read the letter together.

“Harry,” He said softly, shaking his husband gently. “Wake up, love. Scor and Al have sent us an owl.”

Harry groaned and merely clung to him tighter. “Five more minutes...”

“Oh no, you don’t.” Draco chuckled. “Surely you want to know what Houses our boys have joined?”

Finally, green eyes met grey. “Why didn’t you just say so?” Harry yawned. Ignoring his husbands light laughter, Harry dragged himself into a sitting position, pulling Draco along with him. Opening and holding the letter before them, they both started to read the jumble of Al’s thick handwriting as well as Scor’s neater script.

_Dear Father and Dad,_  
We’re all safe and sound, for the most part. **James filled our compartment with Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. I expect retribution!** _Yes, well, Al is still a bit miffed at James. But besides that, everything is great,_ **like the trolley on the train! Did you know the lady has been pushing that trolley for 120 YEARS?! She says she had better retire soon, but I think she does a bang up job! Hang on, Scor wants to talk.**  
 _We shan’t disclose the Sorting Ceremony yet, but the feast was amazing! The food just materializes right in front of the plates! And the ghosts – Sir Nicholas says to say hello to you, Dad, by the way – they all came up and talked to us! The Grey Lady was especially nice._ **Yeah, she came up to us and said we looked exactly like you two and that she was glad you both mended your differences. She told us to call her Miss Helena, how cool is that?**  
 _All the teachers seem great so far, I can’t wait for Professor Flitwick’s class. And Professor McGonagall’s._ **Well, I wish we could take Care of Magical Creatures as first years. I think Hagrid will be an awesome teacher!** _Al just wants to ride a Hippogriff._ **It would be fun to fly on something other than a broom!**  
 _Anyway, we had better get going. We need to be early tomorrow if we want to meet up with the others._ **The others being Rose, James, Victoire, Dominique, Louis, Fred, Roxanne, Molly, and Lucy.** _Was that really necessary?_ **It’s always necessary, Scorp.  
** Hate to say it, but give Lily a hug from us. _Tell her we’ll send her some Honeydukes treats._ **Victoire promised to pick some up for us as long as we don’t tell Dominique and Louis what James saw at the station.** _Score one for the Potter-Malfoy, kids!_  
Your sons,  
 **Albus and** _Scorpius  
p.s. We’re both in Ravenclaw. Theres no password, you know? You have to answer a riddle to get to the common room!_ **Scorp’s annoyed because I got it before him.** _Am not! Rose got into Gryffindor, by the way. We’re all a bit surprised about that._ **Guess she’s like Aunt Mione – bit of both. The hat said we could have gone to Gryffindor too, but me and Scorp wanted to be different. Besides, I bet the Ravenclaws know way more hexes than the other Houses!**

“Ravenclaw.” Harry whispered.

“They’re both bright, you know that.” Draco said, proud of their boys.

“I know that!” Harry laughed, shoving his partner lightly. “I’m just amazed something that came from us didn’t end up in Slytherin or Gryffindor.”

“James is in Gryffindor.” Draco raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, but that’s James. He’s been a lion since his birth.” Harry grinned. “I guess I owe Mione five galleons.”

“And her husband owes me ten.” Draco smirked.

“You thought they would end up in Ravenclaw?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “No. Ron bet that they would take after us – Scorpius in Slytherin and Albus in Gryffindor. I merely betted otherwise. At the very least I thought they would both end up in the same house. You know how inseparable they are.”

“I do.” Harry laughed, remembering the mischief those two usually caused.

After penning a reply to the two boys, as well as one to James, Harry started nodding off again. Draco noticed and pushed against him lightly.

“You can’t sleep down here, Harry. Come on, let’s go to bed.” He said softly.

“Carry me?” Harry pouted. Draco laughed.

“Don’t you think you’re a bit old for that? And heavy?”

Giving the blonde a tired smirk, Harry cast a feather-light charm on himself. “Not anymore.”

Rolling his eyes, Draco tucked an arm under Harry’s knees and another behind his shoulders. Lifting the other man off the couch, he headed towards the stairs.

“I spoil you.”

“You love me.”

“Bit presumptuous, aren’t we?”

“Slytherin prat.”

“Gryffindor fool.”

In their bedroom, Draco laid Harry down and cancelled the charm. After placing their wands on their respective bedside tables, he pressed his chest to Harry’s back, throwing an  
arm across his husbands stomach as Harry entwined their legs.

“I do love you though, Harry,” Draco whispered, placing a kiss in unruly black hair. “You’re not presumptuous in the least.”

“And I love you. Even if you can be a prat.”

All was well, indeed.


End file.
